Hon Judith Collins

Minister of Veterans' Affairs

Parliament Buildings

WELLINGTON

 

Dear Hon Judith Collins,

 

I am in receipt of your letter dated 28 May 2009 regarding Mururoa veterans.

 

I take issue with a few points in your letter:

 

1..  This is the first time that anyone from the Mururoa Veterans' Society has seen/heard of the "presumptive list" and quite a few crew members didn't/don't know that they can claim a disability allowance from a War Disablement Pension. This presumptive list does not cover the most common illnesses of the Mururoa Veterans', and needs to be reviewed every year. More Liaison between The Ministry and Veterans needs to be carried out.

 

2..  Why does the "presumptive list" cover serious symptoms like cancers and not the preliminary illnesses before reaching that stage?

 

3..  "Mururoa veterans' make application for a War Disablement Pension for any disability that they believe is attributable to their service in Mururoa".

The Mururoa Veterans' Society would like this to be amended to read:

 "Mururoa veterans' make application for a War Disablement Pension for any disability that is attributable to their service in Mururoa".

It should be up to the Veterans' Affairs Ministry to prove otherwise.

Mururoa veterans' are finding it difficult to find Doctors/Specialists that know what illnesses are associated with radiation exposure.

 

4..  The presumptive list should also cover:

(a) Reflux - This is caused by the valve at the top of the stomach not closing properly and acid flows back up the windpipe after eating.

This is one of the common health problems of servicemen that went to Mururoa.

Reflux is one health problem that we know that we have passed down to our children that is obvious to most veterans' at the moment.

(b) Low Platelet Count - Platelets are produced by the bone marrow and help the blood clot. The normal count is 450 in a normal fit person.

The Platelet count for some veterans' is below 80.

Again, this is another major health problem for ex crew members.

I personally have a low platelet count of around 40, it has been as low as 32 this year. In February 2000 I had a bleed in the brain, which led to a Stroke. Fraser Colman (the MP that was onboard Otago and transfered to Canterbury, suffered a Stroke in the 1990's and died of another stroke a couple of years ago.

(c) Goiter in the Thyroid Gland. - I refer to the French report in 2006 that I have also enclosed.

 

I refer to the Greenpeace report on water sampling arouind Mururoa Atoll, a copy of which I have enclosed.

The Otago and Canterbury tool on 25 tons of salt water every 24 hours and made fresh water through their evaporators. 24 tons was used in the boilers to make steam for the engines, leaving 1 ton of water to be used by crew members to cook, drink, wash clothes, shower, scrub paint work and the decks in corridors, whereby bringing radiation inside the ship, and more importantly into the crew members bodies.

Evaporators are not filters, and I don't know of a radiation fliter.

 

Why should the government monitor international research into the children and grandchildren of Nuclear Test Veterans, surely there are enough nuclear test veterans and their off spring in New Zealand for Massey University to carry out New Zealand's own study. New Zealand was a world leader in child care and education once, we also showed the world what the French where doing in the Pacific by exploding Nuclear bombs. Why can't we lead the world in looking after our Nuclear test veterans and off spring?

 

There is a lack of recognition by the RNZN and the Government for the most spectacular naval operation since the sinking of the Graf Spee.

I am referring to the pressure placed on France to stop atmospheric testing through international coverage of the protest voyages by Otago and Canterbury.

Few people realise that Canterbury witnessed the last atmospheric test (the 34th) before France was forced by international opinion to go underground and then finally end all Pacific testing.

.... and not a shot was fired!

Surely it's time the government recognised this achievement with an appropriate memorial.

 

The Veterans sailed into the unknown, and was promised by the then government that they would be looked after. The government of the day and succeeding governments have swept the operation and associated health problems under the carpet.

 

I was told by the Minister of Defence (Phil Goff) that the Canterbury's turret was being saved and erected in the Naval museum at Torpedo Bay sometime in 2010. The Turret will have a plaque attached informing the public that Canterbury and Otago went to Mururoa as the Governments representative to protest against the French testing Nuclear bombs in the Pacific. Is this the plan of the RNZN or the present government or has this also been swept under the carpet?

 

The crews of Otago and Canterbury that went to Mururoa have a reunion weekend every two years, surely financial assistance can be given towards the cost of members attending these weekends, as promised by George Hawkins and Rick Barker.

The Veterans use to have a reunion every five years but because of the number of deaths of veterans through illnesses related to radiation exposure, it has been decided to hold reunions every two years.

 

I hope you have found this reply illuminating in the following respects:

 

1..  Your Ministry has never contacted me or any office holder of the Mururoa Veterans' Society.

2..  No details of the "presumptive list" have been forwarded to the Society.

3..  Individual members of the Society, who are under medical treatment, have not been advised by their doctors of such a list.

4..  No process has been set up by the Ministry to directly monitor the health of Mururoa Veterans' or their families.

5..  The Ministry has no idea of the scale of our health problems beacuse it has never researched them.

 

You may understand that surviving crew members and their familes, who have to live with the daily consequences of atmospheric nuclear testing, feel they are being treated as beneath notice and that neither the Ministry nor the health authorities appear to take our position seriously.

 

When I wrote to the Prime Minister I asked for "justice". Is that too much to ask for those who served their country and now need your help?

 

I ask you, as our Minister, to call a meeting of all parties to determine a process for action.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Peter Mitchell

President Mururoa Veterans' Society